


Surprise!

by adventuresofcomicbookgirl



Series: Femslash Fic Bonanza 2016 [4]
Category: Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon | Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon
Genre: Birthday, F/F, Female Friendship, Femslash, Femslash February, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-24
Updated: 2016-02-24
Packaged: 2018-05-23 01:25:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,937
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6100273
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/adventuresofcomicbookgirl/pseuds/adventuresofcomicbookgirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompted by azuresquirrel on tumblr: Rei/Usagi. Rei hates her birthday. Usagi wants to fix that. Usagi gets Rei something she is sure she will love. It's tickets to a Takarazuka musical. Rei is Less Than Amused. Take it from there.</p><p> I got really into this. Rei and Usagi banter galore!</p>
            </blockquote>





	Surprise!

It was widely known among her friends that Rei wasn’t overly fond of her birthday, even if nobody knew exactly why. The reason was simple. It was her designated “day” to spend with her father, but he usually sent someone else in his place unless it was campaign season or something was going on politically and he was trying to play up the family man angle. Rei had picked up on that pattern fairly quickly and decided to avoid the birthday dinner as much as she could. Unfortunately, her father was as tenacious as she was, so that didn’t always work.

So her preferred activity on her birthday was finding the best hiding place in Tokyo and leading some hapless assistant on a merry chase. But becoming friends with Usagi had thrown a wrench in that. She was always trying to plan some sort of get-together and Rei always had to get out of it somehow. She didn’t want to explain it to her and other girls, and she sure as hell didn’t want to see their reactions if the party got crashed by some suit keen on kidnapping her.

Usagi had been suspiciously quiet this year, though. She was probably planning a surprise party. Well, she’d have no one to surprise, thought Rei as she got up early the morning of the big day, preparing to make her usual escape.  She felt a twinge of guilt over that, but it was quickly smothered when she reminded herself that this would just mean Usagi would have free cake to enjoy. The other girls would rally and just throw the party for Usagi instead to make up for her disappointment.

With all the essentials packed in a tote bag- manga, snacks, money, homework to do, a hat and glasses to put on to disguise herself if need be-she left the shrine. Only to find someone waiting at the bottom of the steps.

“ _Usagi?”_ Rei could hardly believe her eyes. She looked up at the dark sky and back at odango-haired goon standing there with a big grin. “What are you doing? It’s _early_.” She wondered if Usagi had just somehow not noticed this, and as soon as Rei reminded her she’d drop back to sleep, right there.

She didn’t, though she did yawn. “Yup. I had to skip my late night manga reading and everything. But I caught you!” Usagi had looked less triumphant after saving the world than she did now. “I’m too smart for you, Rei-chan!”

A scathing comeback rose to Rei’s lips but she suppressed it to focus on more important matters. “What…are you planning to do with me?”

Usagi’s face stretched into an evil grin. It was slightly disconcerting on her. “Something with just the two of us. Something _I know for a fact_ you’ll enjoy.”

It was amazing the amount of effort Usagi put into something when she actually cared about it. She was the laziest person in the world, but as Rei knew, when she set her mind to something, nobody could stand in her way. She just had to feel a sense of dedication. And there was nothing she was more dedicated to than annoying Rei.

Whatever this was, it was going to be utterly humiliating.

Usagi pulled two tickets to _The Rose of Versailles*_ out of her pocket, practically giggling with malevolent glee.

***

Usagi was practically skipping down the road. Rei followed her with her nose in the air, trying to maintain a sense of dignity.

“I got you to come! I got you to come! I knew you wouldn’t be able to resist Takarazukaaaaaa!” Usagi twirled around and stuck her tongue out at Rei.

“As I’ve told you, several times, I’m not a huge Takarazuka fan-“

“Your collection of _super erotic_ fan magazines say otherwise!”

“I went to a show once and a girl gave them to me, okay! It would have been rude to refuse! And they’re _not_ erotic!”

“If you’re not a fan, why are you coming?”

“Because I don’t want those tickets to go to waste after you so foolishly bought them!”

“Uh-huh,” Usagi giggled. Then her voice dropped to a whisper. “You know, I got Ami-chan to tell me about the history of Takarazuka.”

“Oh, God.”

“She said starting in the 1950’s a bunch of people got really mad about how _super gay_ it was-“

“It started in the 1920’s and it was very complicated**-“

“Oh, Rei-chan knows her stuff!”

Rei snapped her mouth shut. Usagi had trapped her there. Being owned by Usagi was the worst feeling in the world. It was like being owned by that puppy who couldn’t learn how to play fetch and just drooled on you instead.

She rallied. “I’m simply well versed in the _history_ of my _culture_ , which is more than I can say for _some_ people.”

“Ami-chan told me a lot of girls in fan clubs for the actresses wrote love letters. I know you’re in fan clubs. I bet you’ve written love letters!”

“I’ve never written a love letter to anyone in my life.” Rei tossed her hair. “I’ve gotten plenty-from multiple genders I might add, but I have let them down gently each time-“

Rolling her eyes, Usagi cut into Rei’s speech. “Which actress do you have the biggest crush on?”

“Nobody!” Rei ground her teeth. “For your information, Usagi, you are misrepresenting Takarazuka. You don’t have to be a lesbian to appreciate it. My _faint_ interest in it is because I enjoy how it empowers women. It’s a complete reversal of the Kabuki theatre that barred us from performing, hearkening back to the origins of the art***. It allows women to completely transcend gender roles-”

“Okay, okay, I get it, power to women,” Usagi cut her off again as they finally approached the theatre. “Oooh, they should do a Takarazuka show based off me, then! Sailor Moon is a powerful female role model after all.!!!”

“What are you a role model of? How to fail every class?”

Usagi stuck her tongue out again. “You’re just soooooo jealous.”

Rei sighed as they got in line. “Just don’t embarrass me by falling asleep during this. I am not as patient as Mamoru-san. If you start drooling on me, I will kill you.”

Usagi giggled. “I think you’re going to be the one drooling-“

“Shut up.”

“-Over the actresses-“

“I got it, you don’t need to explain it.”

“-the ones you write love letters to-“

At this point, she was wondering would if dinner with her father really would have been that much worse than this.

***

Usagi did not fall asleep during the performance, but she did manage to embarrass Rei- by sobbing very noisily through the last scenes. Rei tried desperately to shush her but it was to no avail. When the show ended, Usagi jumped from her seat, cheering and crying at the top of her lungs. Rei didn’t mind that so much, because it masked how loud she was cheering too.

When they got of the theatre, Usagi was still crying. “That was so _good!_ I don’t understand why it has to be so _sad_ , though!”

“It was pretty good. The lady who played Oscar is one of the greats. Andre annoyed me even more than usual, though.”

“Why? I loved her!”

“I don’t like how she didn’t make eye contact with the rest of the cast. It was distracting.”

“But, but that meant she could look at us! And she looked right at _me_! And winked. My heart nearly exploded- it was the dreamiest thing. I’m with all those girls who want to date her.“

“Okay, yes, it was dreamy, and I would date her, but we’re not talking about how dateable she is, we’re talking about performance-“

Usagi gasped very loudly. She stopped dead in the middle of the sidewalk, forcing Rei to stop too.

“What.”

“Rei-chan.” She grabbed her by the face, looking at her with shimmering eyes. “You admitted it! You admitted you want to date her!”

Rei’s neck burned a little.  Damn it, owned again. She was no match for drooling puppies, it seemed. “Fine, I like girls, whatever.” She shoved Usagi’s hands down. “BUT. That doesn’t have _anything to_ do with why I love Takarazuka. It’s a bonus. I want to impress on you that it’s about the art and empowerment-“

“You just admitted you love Takarazuka, too.”

 _Damn_ it.

“It’s all right, Rei-chan! As of tonight, I also love it! I want to read all those erotic fan magazines-“

“I told you, they’re not-“

Usagi took Rei’s hands suddenly. “Actually, Rei-chan, we have something else in common too. Once again, her voice dropped into that kind of whisper that was actually louder than her regular voice. “ _I also like girls_.”

“I know.”

Usagi snapped back, looking shocked “You know?”

“Everybody who knows you knows, Usagi.”

Usagi pouted. It was frustratingly cute. “Fineeeeeee. BUT. My point is. Since now you’ve admitted it….and we both know…would you go on a date with me?”

Rei smiled at the silly girl in front of her. “I thought we already _were_ on a date?”

Usagi squealed, threw her arms around Rei and kissed her on the cheek. Rei made a big show of protesting, but secretly her heart melted.

As they walked hand-in-hand back to the shrine, Rei’s cell phone vibrated. She took it out and saw a ridiculous amount of missed calls from her father. It was campaign season, all right.

Might as well get it over with.  She let go of Usagi’s hand. “I’m just gonna take this real quick.”

An icy “ _where were you”_ greeted her.

“Not that it’s any of your business, but I had a d- something to do with a friend.”

He made a noise like he didn’t believe her. This annoyed her for some reason.

“I’m _not_ making that up. Unlike you, I do care about some-“

Suddenly the phone was grabbed from Rei’s hand. “She really isn’t making it up! I’m right here with her! It was all my idea too, I made her go and- who is this anyway?”

Usagi’s eyes went as wide as sand dollars. “Rei’s…papa…oh. Well. I…I wanted to do something nice for her on her birthday, so I took her out to _The Rose of Versailles._ We enjoyed it very much. I hope you had a good day.”

Usagi shoved the phone back at Rei, but her father had already hung up. Rei stared at Usagi for a minute and then she doubled over in laughter.

“I’m sorry!” Usagi said, flushing. “I didn’t know-“

“Oh God, this is so fantastic.” Rei wiped tears from her eyes. “He _hates_ Takarazuka. He’ll be furious t I ditched him for _that_.”

Usagi’s eyebrows contracted. “Why does he hate Takarazuka?’

“Because my mom really liked it, so it reminds him of her and what a shitty husband he was.” Rei smiled fondly at a suddenly recalled memory. “My mother actually introduced me to Takarazuka. She took me to a show when I was little- it was _The Rose of Versaille_ s, actually. That’s funny…”

Usagi’s eyes shone. She was clutching her heart.

“…What?”

“This is the first time you’ve ever told me anything about your mother.”

Rei groaned. “I seem to be pretty chatty tonight.”

Usagi put her arm around Rei. “I’m really glad I got to be with you on your birthday.”

“I…am, too,” Rei said hesitantly. Then she mumbled, “Might be the best one I’ve ever had.”

“What was that?”

“Nothing.” Rei leaned into Usagi as they walked up the shrine steps. “It’s nothing.”

**Author's Note:**

> * The Rose of Versailles is a fairly notable Takarazuka show, based on a shoujo manga from the 1970′s about Oscar, a crossdressing female bodyguard to Marie Antoinette. Her love interest is a guy named Andre and he sucks. That’s all you need to know.)
> 
> **I did some light research on Takarazuka for this. You can see what Rei's talking about here: http://ladyloveandjustice.tumblr.com/post/139926293877/like-i-said-i-did-some-light-research-for-the
> 
> ***The kabuki thing is also covered in the research post.


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